Overview

#StopAsianHate is a campaign against rising discrimination against Asian citizens within the United States. The campaign serves to raise awareness about the effects of racism against Asian Americans, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the increased number of hate crimes brought about by scapegoating Asian people for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scapegoating of Asian countries and Asian American communities correlated with a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. The organization Stop AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) Hate reported that there was an increase of 68% in verbal abuse, 20% in shunning and 11% in physical assault between March 2020 and February 2021.^[6]

Throughout 2021, numerous news outlets reported several assaults and murders against Asian Americans, including the death of Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old Thai man, who was killed in his neighborhood by a teenager.^[1] On February 5th, in response to these incidents and several others, social entrepreneur and Rise^[2][3] founder Amanda Nguyen shared an Instagram ^[4] post calling action against anti-Asian crimes in the US. The post highlights these issues and calls for people to share their experiences and bring attention to major media outlets using the hashtag #justiceforvicha. This video went viral and was picked up by a number of publications including Time Magazine^[5].

Developments

Creation of #StopAsianHate

On February 17th, T Magazine creator Patrick Li created the logo and hashtag in an Instagram^[6] post. In the post, Li cites both the recent rising trends but also events from back in March 2020 of the "incendiary "Kung Flu" propaganda." The post received more than 5,000 likes in less than two months (shown below).

StopAAPIHate

In 2020, in response to the increased anti-Asian violence and rhetoric used during the Covid-19 Pandemic, the nonprofit StopAAPIHate^[7] was formed (AAPI referring to Asian American Pacific Islanders). The hashtag #StopAAPIHate also began to see use on Twitter alongside #StopAsianHate. On October 16th, 2020, the organization shared its first Instagram post. They wrote:

In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (@CAASanFrancisco), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on March 19. The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California and where possible throughout the United States.

On February 22, the state of California allocated $1.4 million USD to StopAAPIHate to combat anti-Asian violence and racism.^[8]

2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings

2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings refers to several fatal shootings that occurred at massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia in mid-March 2021. Eight people were killed in the shooting, six of which were Asian American women. After being apprehended by the police, the suspect Robert Aaron Long claimed his actions were the result of sexual addiction and were not racially motivated. According to the Korean news site The Chosun Ilbo,^[12] a witness at one of the spas claims to have heard the shooter say he would "kill all Asians."

On March 16th, 2021, eight people at three separate Asian massage parlors in the Atlanta area were shot and killed. With six of the victims being of Asian descent, many believe the attack to be a racially motivated hate crime. Two other victims were white and all but one were women, according to the New York Times.^[13] Four were killed at a spa in Acworth, Georgia, where the first shooting took place, another three bodies were found at the Gold Spa in Atlanta. Across the street, an eighth body was found at the Aromatherapy Spa.

Authorities apprehended the suspect who was identified as Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old resident of Woodstock, Georgia.

Open Letter by BTS

On March 29th, 2021 K-Pop band BTS released^[11] an open letter on the #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate hashtags. They wrote, "We cannot put into words the pain of becoming the subject of hatred and violence for such a reason. Our own experiences are inconsequential compared to the events that have occurred over the past few weeks. But these experiences were enough to make us feel powerless and chip away our self-esteem. What is happening right now cannot be dissociated from our identity as Asians." The post received more than 1.8 million likes and 949,000 retweets in less than two days (shown below).

Search Interest

External References